Selena Gomez Joins Madonna And Lady Gaga In ‘Woman Of The Year’ Honor

Billboard has named Selena Gomez as their 2017 Woman of the Year. The popular music industry magazine announced the news on Tuesday morning.

“The two-time Billboard 200 chart-leader will be presented with the award Nov. 30 at the annual Women in Music dinner and awards gala, held at the Ray Dolby Ballroom in Los Angeles.”

The article adds that not only is Selena soaring on the charts, but she is continuously inspiring young women everywhere to be authentic and not afraid to use their voices.

“She is never afraid to speak her mind and has used her platform to advocate for the needs of others. We are thrilled to be able to honor her as our Woman of the Year,” claims John Amato, the president of The Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group.

Though the commenters after the article generally like Selena Gomez, some can’t understand why Billboard would give her such a big honor in 2017.

“She did get #1 on the Top 200 album chart twice, some artists never do that. But, yes she hasn’t done anything that could be classified as remarkable,” says Intoxik8ted.

“Laughable. Giving award someone just because she was sick,” claims Vroy77.

As Billboard has shown in the past, they don’t necessarily give the award at an artist’s sales peak. For example, Madonna hadn’t even released an album in 2016, and she was given the award. Still, Madonna made quite the impression.

“Thank you for acknowledging my ability to continue my career for 34 years in the face of blatant sexism and misogyny and constant bullying and relentless abuse,” Madonna began telling the audience during her speech.

The speech was about survival as much as it was about misogyny. Madonna recalled being raped at knifepoint when she first moved to New York City. This is something Madonna first discussed in an improvised scene in her 1993 movie Dangerous Game, but didn’t come forward about it being truthful until 1995.

The Queen of Pop began talking about how David Bowie made her think there were no rules. But she soon discovered there were only rules if you were a woman. Madonna shed tears when she talked about how marginalized she felt when she put out her book Sex and her album Erotica in 1992. She said she was called a slut, a wh**e, and even compared to Satan. She didn’t understand how Prince could walk around with his butt cheeks hanging out and receive no criticism whatsoever.

Madonna ended her speech by encouraging other women to not believe what men have to say about them, and that they shouldn’t believe they have to back men by getting the job done. She encouraged women to stick together and seek out those who can encourage and inspire them.

Despite a collaboration with R. Kelly, 'Billboard' honored Lady Gaga with their top award. [Image by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images]

In 2015, Lady Gaga, a huge Selena Gomez fan, won the award even though she didn’t have any hit singles that year. However, she did gain respect with her various performances, including one at the Academy Awards, where she sang songs from The Sound of Music. Gaga also used her speech to talk about empowering women, though some thought she was hypocritical as she had regularly worked with both R. Kelly and Terry Richardson, both accused of sexual assault.

Selena Gomez has big shoes to fill when accepting her award this year. Still, she seems to be having a lot of fun. According to TMZ, Gomez and Justin Bieber have rekindled their romance.

“Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez have put the dating rumors to bed… because they’re clearly dating! The Biebs and Selena hung out AGAIN on Wednesday morning in L.A. Sure looks like Selena has all the feels. They also went on a bike ride and looked super cozy.”

Do you think Selena Gomez is a good choice for Billboard‘s coveted award? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.